price for tournament repair biz

R

radge69

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What would you guys consider a fair price for the following setup. 2 older porper lathes, 2 willards tip machines, misc hardware associated with above machines. Also, the business name, and the in with a vendor that has you work 4 to 6 tournaments a year. Tournaments are local tournaments that draw 200-400 shooters per tournament. Business at the tournaments is enough to keep two guys working fairly busy. By that I mean about 30 - 45 minutes per tip replacement and shaft recondition. This could be done a lot faster and more productive, but I don't think they want to sit there with nothing to do, so they take their time and keep a back log of work sitting there normally.

The lathes appear to be in good shape, no cue building done on them. All they have been used for that I know of is tips, ferrules, and shaft reconditioning. He's never mentioned even attempting to build anything on them.

One other thing to consider is that they buy all the ferrules by unit, not rod and make them. So they have a higher cost of supplies there.

Some pricing examples, $30 for a Moori, $12 for shaft recondition, $15 for lepro, elk master, and triangles. $40 for one piece phenolic ferrule/tip. $30 for a ferrule, $50 for a tennon replacement with new ferrule.

Any other info that would help let me know.
 
are you looking for info on what you can make or what you should spend for the equiptment.

2 porpers willl run you $5K+ alone. you shouldnt pay a repairman for the right to work tourneys and he can keep his name FWIW. not like hes schon a national brand name

with two lathes i dont see much use for willard tip machines. i havent used one the the many years since ive had my lathes
 
I'm looking at what I should spend. I could care less about the name, I just want the in with the vendor to work their tournaments. He doesn't use the lathes to install or trim the tips, that's what he uses the Willards for. I know, it's not the normal way. I could care less about the Willards. I would have to buy it all and then sell what I wouldn't need. Just like I don't need two Porpers. I have a Unique and plan on buying a Deluxe soon. Like I said, I mainly want the in with the vendor, but I'm sure I can find uses for the Porpers. The vendor isn't one that's real open to new people, so I'm looking at this as a way to get in to work the tournaments.
 
radge69 said:
I'm looking at what I should spend. I could care less about the name, I just want the in with the vendor to work their tournaments. He doesn't use the lathes to install or trim the tips, that's what he uses the Willards for. I know, it's not the normal way. I could care less about the Willards. I would have to buy it all and then sell what I wouldn't need. Just like I don't need two Porpers. I have a Unique and plan on buying a Deluxe soon. Like I said, I mainly want the in with the vendor, but I'm sure I can find uses for the Porpers. The vendor isn't one that's real open to new people, so I'm looking at this as a way to get in to work the tournaments.
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What you are talking about is buying the good will. It is not worth much. There is no guarantee the guy won't throw you out and get someone else.
 
Buying a name or buying the equiptment with the name is not what will get you "in" with the vendor. It will be your body of work that will get you in and keep you in. Show him the work you are capable of and the quality of work you can produce. That is your "in."
 
ratcues said:
Buying a name or buying the equiptment with the name is not what will get you "in" with the vendor. It will be your body of work that will get you in and keep you in. Show him the work you are capable of and the quality of work you can produce. That is your "in."
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They know what I can do, they've seen it. I'm taking business away from them right now. I'd just like to get the tournaments as that is a quicker way to pay for my machines. I keep myself as busy as I want to be now, but a weekend full of tournament work would help pay for my machines much quicker. Plus, the guy selling this is a friend, so I don't want to just cut in on his deal until he's ready to call it quits. He's got a few guys wanting to purchase this stuff from him, but I got asked if I was interested.

The main thing is, I don't know what the equipment is worth to even begin wondering if I want to even take a hard look at this or not. Like I said above, the two Porpers would be nice to have. You can never have too many lathes correct? :smile:
 
Have you asked what his Sales is like for each of the tournament? 200-400 players seem like really good potential especially if it 4-6 time a year. My friend who work exclusively for a big tournament does quite well doing tips/repairs and selling cues. I'm sure if you're good...you will recover the cost possibly within the year for the price your paying for just his lathes. Best thing is probably ask what numbers he has in mind in term of the price for his setup. Good Luck.

Regards,
Duc.
 
RFisher said:
Is this C&N sales in mankato? Are you Talking about Bob?
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No, not C&N. Although Bob is kind of in the same situation. I have talked to him about something similar as well. but he's a few years away from calling it quits from what he's told me. I'm more interested in Bob's situation, but thats down the road. I'd like to look at doing something soon, that's why I started thinking about this other deal. This is a different guy and league system.

The only bad thing about C&N is I shoot all their tournaments, so it would be kind of hard to work them as well. Then I would have to find a helper, and my wife isn't real big on tip replacements :smile:
 
If they are model-b lathes, i'll be interested in buying one or both.

As for the "in", once you buy their stuff then they won't be doing anymore work, and you won't have top use their name. It's not even logical for them to ask. If you are the guy with the equipment, then you already have your "in" if the tourney wants a repair guy on site.
 
porpers sell used for around 2500-3000$.

i had a chance to but one for $2500 and still wish i had come up with the cash at that time
 
Thanks guys. I'm just trying to figure out a number to have in mind when we start talking numbers. As Ryan brought up, there is another option that could be coming up, but that would be a few years from now. So I'm trying to get a number and then figure out which one I should go after, or both, or neither. Right now I feel greedy and just want to get my hands on as many machines as I can get. But the pocket book has kept me from buying everything I find/want.
 
dave sutton said:
porpers sell used for around 2500-3000$.

i had a chance to but one for $2500 and still wish i had come up with the cash at that time
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I'd give $2G max. I bought one new when they were around $3G's & it was trash, utterly useless out of the crate. I won't go into it on a public forum, but the machines simply are not worth the cash they pull, not to me.
 
qbilder said:
I'd give $2G max. I bought one new when they were around $3G's & it was trash, utterly useless out of the crate. I won't go into it on a public forum, but the machines simply are not worth the cash they pull, not to me.
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i agree. i like hightower machines best. no secret there.

hard to beat for the price right out of the box
 
Depending on condition of machines and amount of tooling , material stock , etc. the model B lathes should be worth around 3 to 4 k for both , less if poor shape, the Willard's about $200 with all accessories , and the stock no idea . If you getting this work is only if you buy this machinery I would reconsider . Like earlier stated , the capability and quality of your work should be enough . You could drop a bundle and still be in the cold .:cool:
 
I talked to him about what he was thinking price wise, it's about double what everyone is saying they would pay. I passed on the opportunity. He claims he has two other guys wanting to do it. We'll see if he gets what he's asking.

I appreciate the help guys.
 
Eric Wynne said:
Depending on condition of machines and amount of tooling , material stock , etc. the model B lathes should be worth around 3 to 4 k for both , less if poor shape, the Willard's about $200 with all accessories , and the stock no idea . If you getting this work is only if you buy this machinery I would reconsider . Like earlier stated , the capability and quality of your work should be enough . You could drop a bundle and still be in the cold .:cool:
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I just looked and found that the Porper Mod B lathe is 4295.00 plus S/H. At that price I think someone must be in one great hurry to sell if he would consider taking less than at least 3000.00 each. I don't know what the tournament repair action is worth but you must assume something. I, myself won't do a tournament with only 200 people attending as I can make that amount in repair work in my shop without all the moving of equipment. I have one tournament I do each year but those league players are from out in the rural part of the state and can get little repair work done during the year. There are between 6 and 800 attending that tournament however.

If he now is taking a half hour to install a tip and clean/polish a shaft how could he possibly make it worth while? I throw a fit if I spend longer than 10 minutes.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
I just looked and found that the Porper Mod B lathe is 4295.00 plus S/H. At that price I think someone must be in one great hurry to sell if he would consider taking less than at least 3000.00 each. I don't know what the tournament repair action is worth but you must assume something. I, myself won't do a tournament with only 200 people attending as I can make that amount in repair work in my shop without all the moving of equipment. I have one tournament I do each year but those league players are from out in the rural part of the state and can get little repair work done during the year. There are between 6 and 800 attending that tournament however.

If he now is taking a half hour to install a tip and clean/polish a shaft how could he possibly make it worth while? I throw a fit if I spend longer than 10 minutes.

Dick
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I don't know why he does things the way he does. I stood and talked with him last year at a tournament, he had about 10 shafts in line and it literally took him 30 minutes to install an elk master. The other guy was going at the same pace, so they were doing two tips per hour. I couldn't believe it. I told him he didn't have to let the glue sit for 15 minutes before trimming, and he said better safe than sorry. He also said that's the way he was shown to do it.

I found out some more about his situation when I talked with him the other night. He has tried to build some cues, but they didn't turn out good and he couldn't get a decent finish on. He bought the lathes and stuff a few years ago from another guy that was doing the cue work in a pool hall that closed. He paid a premium and has decided that this isn't for him. Now he wants to try to get his money back out of the deal.
 
radge69 said:
I don't know why he does things the way he does. I stood and talked with him last year at a tournament, he had about 10 shafts in line and it literally took him 30 minutes to install an elk master. The other guy was going at the same pace, so they were doing two tips per hour. I couldn't believe it. I told him he didn't have to let the glue sit for 15 minutes before trimming, and he said better safe than sorry. He also said that's the way he was shown to do it.

I found out some more about his situation when I talked with him the other night. He has tried to build some cues, but they didn't turn out good and he couldn't get a decent finish on. He bought the lathes and stuff a few years ago from another guy that was doing the cue work in a pool hall that closed. He paid a premium and has decided that this isn't for him. Now he wants to try to get his money back out of the deal.
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I bet there is a lot of people that would like to be able to do that..
 
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